1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to mechanism for mounting flaps on the trailing edge of an airplane wing and for actuating such flaps to shift them rearwardly from the airplane wing and to alter their angle of incidence relative to the airplane wing.
2. Prior Art
Trailing edge flaps for airplane wings are conventional, but ordinarily such flaps have either been mounted by rather simple hinge mechanism on the trailing edge of the wing or have been shiftable chordwise of the wing by being mounted on rollers running on tracks as shown at 70 and 72 in FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 of U.S. Pat. No. 3,767,140 or by some special type of linkage which simultaneously shifts the flap chordwise and alters its angle of incidence relative to the wing as shown in FIGS. 11a, 11b and 11c of U.S. Pat. No. 2,137,879.
Supporting flaps by rollers running on a cam track has the disadvantage that the rollers may bind relative to the track as the wing deflects, which reduces the reliability of the flap-actuating mechanism. Moreover, the operation of rollers on tracks can produce highly concentrated loads which could result in localized failure of the supporting track. Moreover, the track and roller design requires expensive machining for the tracks and fittings and precision heat-treating. With track and roller type of support it is difficult to provide compact and simple actuating mechanism.
Where linkages have been used to support flaps, the range of movement of which the flaps are capable is limited, and it is difficult to obtain desired types of flap movement.